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Pope Francis greets seminarians as he walks the loggia to his address to the Bishops at St. Martin of Tours Chapel at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, September 27, 2015 in Wynnewwod, Pennsylvania. Tom Gralish, pool

Pope Francis takes a picture with seminarians on the steps of St. Martin of Tours Chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, following his address to the Bishops in Wynnewood, Pa. Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer, pool photo

Inmate Carlos Regalado is blessed by Pope Francis during a visit with inmates and their families at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, the largest prison operated in Philadelphia, Pa. Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY

Pope Francis, waving goodbye, visits with inmates and their families at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, the largest prison operated in Philadelphia, Penn. on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY

Lupe Cantu, of McAllen Valley, Texas, hangs rosary beads on a barricade along Benjamin Franklin Parkway as she waits for Mass delivered by Pope Francis, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, in Philadelphia. Cantu hopes the pope will bless the rosary beads for her future great grand children. John Minchillo, AP

Maria Santos, from Egg Harbor, N.J., prays behind a barricade at Independence Mall in Philadelphia, as a Mass with Pope Francis at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is projected on a large screen. Carolyn Kaster, AP

Pope Francis is helped down the altar as he blesses the altar with incense before the start of Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. CJ Gunther, European Pressphoto Agency

Members of the Neocatechumenal Way of Orange County, Calif., celebrate in the street in front of St. John The Evangelist Church in Philadelphia as they wait to see Pope Francis. Jessica Kourkounis, Getty Images

Pope Francis, accompanied by Cardinal Timothy Dolan (L) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (center, R) prays as he visits Our Lady Queen of Angels School in East Harlem, NY. Tony Gentile, POOL, EPA

Bellatrix, right, has her costume adjusted by owner Ashley Spann while posing for photos for pedestrians with Addie, left, and owner Emily Mariani, right, outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, host of the World Meeting of Families conference, Sept. 25, 2015, in Philadelphia. David Goldman, AP

Pope Francis laughs with Cardinal Donald Wuerl after arriving at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Washington. The church, founded in 1794, is the oldest Catholic church in Washington. Pool photo by Erik S. Lesser

Pope Francis speaks alongside President Obama during an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 23, 2015. More than 15,000 people packed the South Lawn for a full ceremonial welcome on Pope Francis' historic maiden visit to the United States. Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis takes a photo with children whose parents work at the Lithuanian Embassy, outside the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States on Sept. 23, 2015, in Washington. Molly Riley, AFP/Getty Images

Marilyn Fedewa is among those pressing for sainthood for 17th-Century Spanish nun who claimed to have mystically visited U.S.

WASHINGTON — When Pope Francis steps outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Marilyn Fedewa of Lansing will get her first glimpse of a man she hopes will move toward sainthood a 17th-Century nun whose own visits to America were nothing short of miraculous.

If, that is, you can believe she made them at all.

Fedewa, 69, is a writer and expert on Maria of Agreda, who was a Spanish abbess, adviser to King Philip IV and the author of “Mystical City of God,” a four-volume tome dedicated to the life of Mary, mother of Jesus, that inspired clergy, missionaries and laity for hundreds of years.

But Maria’s story has a twist: A series of hundreds of mystical episodes in which she reported visiting the American Southwest and preaching to American Indians without ever leaving her convent, stories that coincided with reports out of the Jumano Tribe in Texas that they had received religious instruction from a mysterious “Lady in Blue.”

“She had never had her story told in a credible way,” said Fedewa, whose 2009 “Maria of Agreda: Mystical Lady in Blue” was an attempt to present her in the most balanced way possible after earlier works seemed dismissive of Maria’s ecstatic episodes, despite investigations by church officials, as well as the Inquisition, which did not repudiate them.

Marilyn Fedewa of Lansing, who is an authority of Maria of Agreda and a guest of U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop of Rochester at Pope Francis’ speech to Congress on Thursday.(Photo: Marilyn Fedewa)

“There has never really been a balanced approach,” said Fedewa, who, with a laugh, acknowledges the difficulty of accepting the episodes but who believes, after researching her life and writings, that Maria experienced what she said.

"The more I researched her, the more I went into the untranslated letters, the untranslated testimony to the Inquisition, I felt her view had credibility. … I really felt her sincerity," she said.

Fedewa is coming to Washington as the guest of U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

She won’t be in the House chamber when Pope Francis speaks to Congress on Thursday morning but outside on the west front of the U.S. Capitol, where thousands of invited guests will watch his remarks. After Francis speaks inside, he is expected to step out onto the west front and speak a short time as well.

Fedewa isn’t coming to Washington with an eye toward meeting or lobbying Francis but to see someone for whom she has enormous respect. But as an American representative at a two-day meeting next month in Rome of an international society dedicated to the teaching of Jesus' mother, she, along with others, are hoping for an audience with Francis.

Maria was a constant believer in Mary's saintliness and that her conception was immaculate — which wasn't accepted as church doctrine until the mid-1800s — making Maria an important figure in the history of what's known as "mariology."

There remains an effort in place to push Maria of Agreda, who was named a "venerable" of the church within 10 years of her death, toward beatification and canonization but there are hurdles, too, including long-standing theological qualms about parts of “Mystical City of God,” though her supporters say those have been all but settled.

Her influence was even noted in the writings of Junipero Serra, the 18th-Century Spanish missionary to be canonized by Francis this week. Fedewa was consulted by the authors of a recent work on Serra, and her book part of its bibliography. Maria's tome, after all, was an inspiration to Spanish missionaries to the New World.

But for all that, Fedewa’s trip to Washington is all about Francis, who she says speaks to her in a personal way, with an inclusive, ecumenical approach she believes her favorite subject would appreciate.

“I feel like Maria of Agreda would love him,” she said. “She had a famous phrase, that … ‘to dilate the heart’ was the absolute key to spirituality. … That is at the heart of all the spiritual traditions.”

“I would say (to Francis) to keep going forward,” Fedewa said. “He has a beautiful approach and a beautiful mission and I know he will.”